Bairns In The Baths

I went along to Abigail's 2nd Water Babies class on Monday armed with 2 cameras! (ours and Pinars).
The rest of the class are relaxed enough about photos been taken so I snapped away for 45 mins whilst getting my first insight to the world of baby swimming lessons!
Have to say I was really impressed with the techniques they use to get the little-uns confident with the water, and at the same time keeping them entertained.
Obviously the best part was watching them actually go under the water (see videos below and in the 'AbbieTube' bar), and not one of them came back up distressed.
We'll be taking Abigail abroad next year and I think I might have to seriously look at an underwater kit for my camera...!
As usual there's a flickr set of the photos, and don't forget the 'View as Slideshow' option at the top of the flickr page. (Note: Some of the pics will look a bit odd, as I thought it best to blur all the other babies faces out except for Abigail and Amber).

Royalties Due..?!

We were at a wedding doo last night and whilst standing outside talking to the smoking brigade a lass I've not seen for a good few years pipes up with;

"Eeeh you're Revell aren't you?"

Aye

"Did you take your Baby swimming a few weeks ago"

Aye

"Eeeh do you know ya photo is on the Blyth Valley website?"

Erm No!

Turns out the photo I blogged at the time was also used on the Blyth Valley Arts & Leisure website HERE.

(Incidentally, Abigail's proper 'Water Babies' classes start on Monday).

QE2

The QE2 recently visited the North East as part of it's round of tours before heading off to the far east to become a floating hotel (have you ever!?!).

After a few troubles it eventually entered the mouth of the Tyne and sailed up to North/South Shields.

Seemed only right to capture at least one shot of her before she left to sail up to Edinburgh.

(QE2 is back in the North East in Oct '08)

Picture Postcards

Jen recently went to Warkworth and Amble for the day with her parents. She took the camera for the obligatory Abigail shots, but also took a couple of scenery ones. I was particularly impressed with these two. The colours, the sharpness and the reflections give the appearance of shots from a far more expensive camera! Click on the photos to see the full size ones.

(Flickr'd the pics as usual)

A Religous Experience

We went to a Summer Fayre at my Mam's work on Saturday. She works in a care home and each year they have a fayre with all the usual stalls and raffles etc.

John Middleton was there to open proceedings so it seemed only right to get the little-un in for a pic....

John plays Ashley the Vicar in Emmerdale, and of course we had to get Jen in on a pic too to add to the 'Famous People' section of our Flickr!!

NOTE: I use the term 'famous people' VERY loosely because there's some proper Z listers in there!!

Water Baby

Our local Sports Centre had an open day at the weekend to show off the results of the recent refurbishment.

We went along to look at the changes and were quite impressed. It was all well overdue and quite basic stuff, e.g. the addition of family changing rooms, but at least it's done.

The pools had extended ours for the day and as it was free entry we decided it would be an ideal oppurtunity to see what Abigail made of the water. After heading home to grab our stuff and the baby swim seat (another kind donation from a work colleague!), we headed to the 'little pool' which for me must have been for the first time in over 25 years!
After getting over the initial temperature surprise Abbie seemed to be really quite relaxed. She's quite used to being up to her neck in water from the Tummy Tub, and I think that might have actually helped to prepare her. After about 10 mins we tried her in the swim seat (pictured), and again she seemed to take the whole thing quite calmly.

There was a supervised photographer also around to take photos for the local swimming club. They asked permission to take our photo and I obviously leapt at the chance. He then kindly agreed to e-mail us the pic after we explained it was Abbie's first time in the pool etc.

Abigial was completely exhausted after her 20 mins of being in the pool, but it seemed like an enjoyable experience and something which we'll have to do regularly.

Monkey Tennis *

My usual fantasy football competition was disbanded at the end of last season so I decided to try the free 'metro' one this year.
As well as being free to join, you can have mini-leagues to make it more interesting. I set up a league and tried to get as many teams as possible for the start of the season, - ended up with a respectable 28 participants.

To say a lot of planning went into some people's teams is an understatement.... My work colleagues looked at literally all factors including; last year's player points, summer transfers and even which teams have the easiest start to the season. As it happens, for the opening weekend this all turned out to be in vain...!

On Wednesday evening (2 days before the deadline) Jen decided she'd like to try and enter a team. She insisted in selecting completely her own players and ignoring suggestions from me - apart from obvious help about who was currently injured and therefore wouldn't be playing. This was the result!! - A 5 point lead over her nearest rival, and me somewhere near the relegation spots!! ('Pos' refers to the teams position in the overall nationwide league as oppose to the mini-league).

Call it luck if you want, -but don't let her hear you say that!!

EDIT: You can keep track of the mini-league via the link which will remain to the right of my blog throughout the season. (Jen is no longer top after last night's game).

*A common metaphor for Women's Football